Would a GBRS of 16 automatically mean the kid will be AAP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having read GBRS comments in various screening files, the quality of the comments absolutely varies depending on the school/group that wrote them. Some are minimal and not helpful. Others are detailed with specific examples. It varies.

Other than your own kids, how many screening files have you seen?

Many, many people screen files, including teachers. It's not far-fetched to think there are folks on this site who have reviewed files.

I'm waiting to see if that is what she now claims. I strongly suspect that if that were the case, she'd have prefaced it by, "I'm a FCPS teacher..." She didn't, so I stand by original thought that her vast experience is her own children's files.

Wait away, if that's your thing. But so what? Even if she read three screening files for her own three kids it wouldn't make her statement about variability any less valid. Do you actually doubt the conclusion "it varies"?

The message was fine...it was the delivery that was irksome. Right or wrong, people on this board are clinging to the information-sharing going on as if it is gospel and when people write about, "hearing through the grapevine," or "having read...various screening files...," it is annoying. If it is based on looking at your own kids' files, say that. Otherwise, people get all up in arms that their kid got a 10 with few comments and another kid got a 16 with lots of comments, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having read GBRS comments in various screening files, the quality of the comments absolutely varies depending on the school/group that wrote them. Some are minimal and not helpful. Others are detailed with specific examples. It varies.

Other than your own kids, how many screening files have you seen?

Many, many people screen files, including teachers. It's not far-fetched to think there are folks on this site who have reviewed files.

I'm waiting to see if that is what she now claims. I strongly suspect that if that were the case, she'd have prefaced it by, "I'm a FCPS teacher..." She didn't, so I stand by original thought that her vast experience is her own children's files.

Wait away, if that's your thing. But so what? Even if she read three screening files for her own three kids it wouldn't make her statement about variability any less valid. Do you actually doubt the conclusion "it varies"?

The message was fine...it was the delivery that was irksome. Right or wrong, people on this board are clinging to the information-sharing going on as if it is gospel and when people write about, "hearing through the grapevine," or "having read...various screening files...," it is annoying. If it is based on looking at your own kids' files, say that. Otherwise, people get all up in arms that their kid got a 10 with few comments and another kid got a 16 with lots of comments, etc.

You must be fun at parties.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of my DC had a 16 gbrs with just a few sentences. I would think teachers have better things to do than type up 4 pages about a kid. If a child is getting a 16, then AAP should be a given and the teacher shouldn't have to waste so much time.

Former FCPS teacher here. Our school required extensive written comments to back up scores, especially very high ones.

What a drag. They should respect a teacher's opinion without having to justify it with minute examples.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of my DC had a 16 gbrs with just a few sentences. I would think teachers have better things to do than type up 4 pages about a kid. If a child is getting a 16, then AAP should be a given and the teacher shouldn't have to waste so much time.

Former FCPS teacher here. Our school required extensive written comments to back up scores, especially very high ones.

What a drag. They should respect a teacher's opinion without having to justify it with minute examples.

You should be able to trust the teacher. But in our AAP rabid parts of FCPS though parents are stalking GBRS scores and driving teachers nuts. At some point I think becomes easier for teachers to give up and give a high score than it is to deal with the fallout from a low one. It's kind of hard to blame them. As to my source for this? Not someone who has seen any screening files besides DCs. But someone who lives in an AAP rabid part of the county, and has heard of a ton of 15s and 16s. They seem to be very common in our ES, and definately not a once every 5 years thing, unless a lot of parents are lying about the GBRS. I do know of kids whose parents say they are a 15 or 16 who end up not getting in. I suspect (but do not know) that PPs who say look at the comments are right. I also think that certain teachers or ESs must get reputations, and that a 16 means more coming for school X than from ours. OP, maybe if you make you ES?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of my DC had a 16 gbrs with just a few sentences. I would think teachers have better things to do than type up 4 pages about a kid. If a child is getting a 16, then AAP should be a given and the teacher shouldn't have to waste so much time.

Former FCPS teacher here. Our school required extensive written comments to back up scores, especially very high ones.

What a drag. They should respect a teacher's opinion without having to justify it with minute examples.

You should be able to trust the teacher. But in our AAP rabid parts of FCPS though parents are stalking GBRS scores and driving teachers nuts. At some point I think becomes easier for teachers to give up and give a high score than it is to deal with the fallout from a low one. It's kind of hard to blame them. As to my source for this? Not someone who has seen any screening files besides DCs. But someone who lives in an AAP rabid part of the county, and has heard of a ton of 15s and 16s. They seem to be very common in our ES, and definately not a once every 5 years thing, unless a lot of parents are lying about the GBRS. I do know of kids whose parents say they are a 15 or 16 who end up not getting in. I suspect (but do not know) that PPs who say look at the comments are right. I also think that certain teachers or ESs must get reputations, and that a 16 means more coming for school X than from ours. OP, maybe if you make you ES?

Really? What would the fall out be? Mr. so and so is upset with you? Oh well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of my DC had a 16 gbrs with just a few sentences. I would think teachers have better things to do than type up 4 pages about a kid. If a child is getting a 16, then AAP should be a given and the teacher shouldn't have to waste so much time.

Former FCPS teacher here. Our school required extensive written comments to back up scores, especially very high ones.

What a drag. They should respect a teacher's opinion without having to justify it with minute examples.

You should be able to trust the teacher. But in our AAP rabid parts of FCPS though parents are stalking GBRS scores and driving teachers nuts. At some point I think becomes easier for teachers to give up and give a high score than it is to deal with the fallout from a low one. It's kind of hard to blame them. As to my source for this? Not someone who has seen any screening files besides DCs. But someone who lives in an AAP rabid part of the county, and has heard of a ton of 15s and 16s. They seem to be very common in our ES, and definately not a once every 5 years thing, unless a lot of parents are lying about the GBRS. I do know of kids whose parents say they are a 15 or 16 who end up not getting in. I suspect (but do not know) that PPs who say look at the comments are right. I also think that certain teachers or ESs must get reputations, and that a 16 means more coming for school X than from ours. OP, maybe if you make you ES?

Really? What would the fall out be? Mr. so and so is upset with you? Oh well.

How are parents driving the enter committee nuts BEFORE the GBRS even comes out? This is one of those false rumors that fly around (that if you pester enough, your kid gets in.) Considering there is a committee AND the GBRS requires commentary to back up scores, you seriously think that a principal, AART and a teacher are all sitting there saying we'll just lie about this kid to get the parents off our back? As for hearing about a "ton" of 15s or 16s, you must be exaggerating. Other than your own kids' scores, without exaggeration, how many scores have you personally been told. Not on this site, but by parents in real life. My answer is zero. The most I've been told in real life is that a parent was disappointed in the GBRS score, and even that I've been told a total of three times.

[Anonymous]

At our school, some parents start angling for a good GBRS at the second grade first semester conference (asking for a "sense" of what the GBRS may be. And whether the teacher has considered X and Y, and if one categorAnd I do believe that some of these parents are nutty enough to try to "appeal" a low GBRS with the administration and to argue with the teacher for a revision. The rumor in our school is that scores for kids parent referring for AAP placement or in pool do not go below a 14, and over 6 years or so I have had maybe a dozen parents tell me their child was a 15 or 16. Not all of these kids ended up getting in (but a lot do our school has a very high AAP admittance rate). Maybe 2 or 3 of 12 missed it.

Maybe the parents are inflating the scores. But I suspect the teachers are giving kids the benefit of the doubt (to put it nicely). I also suspect that the screening committee just knows to take an extra hard look at the GBRS commentary from our school, to make sure the commentary lines up with the numbers. And probably looks to see whether the GBRS makes sense in the context of the test scores, rather than rubber stamping admission at a certain GBRS. But that's the definition of holistic review anyway.

And i do think so parents are so competitive that it just does not "click" with them that a high number isn't enough. You need some substance to back it up.

Welcome to Western Fairfax County!

[Anonymous]

I would definitely say you are good to go!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How many ppl on an average gets 16 GBRS in a class? Looks like lot of DCUM kids have received 16 GBRS. Is it easy to get 16?

For most schools/teachers, I think a 16 is rare. At our school, we tend to have 1-2 students per grade level with such high GBRS scores.

[Anonymous]

I will admit to (on very rare occasions) giving a higher-than-deserved GBRS score to a student who could make the pool in cases where the student (or parent) is really difficult. I don't want the next grade level to have to deal with that student (or parent). If the student doesn't have strong work samples, this doesn't always work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having read GBRS comments in various screening files, the quality of the comments absolutely varies depending on the school/group that wrote them. Some are minimal and not helpful. Others are detailed with specific examples. It varies.

In your experience, does the committee ultimately look at the score alone or do they factor in the comments in the decision making process?

The comments are factored in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I will admit to (on very rare occasions) giving a higher-than-deserved GBRS score to a student who could make the pool in cases where the student (or parent) is really difficult. I don't want the next grade level to have to deal with that student (or parent). If the student doesn't have strong work samples, this doesn't always work.

I've never heard of this. What I did see on the GBRS committee were times when a child who had mediocre test scores but was remarkable in the classroom setting would be given an initial GBRS by the classroom teacher of maybe an 11 and the AART will say that the GBRS needs to be raised because the child really needs to be in the program. I find it very, very hard to believe what you've posted is true. In our school, there is a true committee that evaluates every kid who has a file submitted or is in the pool and if I couldn't justify a score with very specific back up, the score wasn't given.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will admit to (on very rare occasions) giving a higher-than-deserved GBRS score to a student who could make the pool in cases where the student (or parent) is really difficult. I don't want the next grade level to have to deal with that student (or parent). If the student doesn't have strong work samples, this doesn't always work.

I've never heard of this. What I did see on the GBRS committee were times when a child who had mediocre test scores but was remarkable in the classroom setting would be given an initial GBRS by the classroom teacher of maybe an 11 and the AART will say that the GBRS needs to be raised because the child really needs to be in the program. I find it very, very hard to believe what you've posted is true. In our school, there is a true committee that evaluates every kid who has a file submitted or is in the pool and if I couldn't justify a score with very specific back up, the score wasn't given.

I believe both of you. One of FCPS's biggest problems IMO is fidelity of implementation, especially with AAP. I can see one school having a committee sit down and make a thoughtful, well documented decision, while at another school, the classroom teacher makes the decision by herself and writes a sentence or two.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will admit to (on very rare occasions) giving a higher-than-deserved GBRS score to a student who could make the pool in cases where the student (or parent) is really difficult. I don't want the next grade level to have to deal with that student (or parent). If the student doesn't have strong work samples, this doesn't always work.

I've never heard of this. What I did see on the GBRS committee were times when a child who had mediocre test scores but was remarkable in the classroom setting would be given an initial GBRS by the classroom teacher of maybe an 11 and the AART will say that the GBRS needs to be raised because the child really needs to be in the program. I find it very, very hard to believe what you've posted is true. In our school, there is a true committee that evaluates every kid who has a file submitted or is in the pool and if I couldn't justify a score with very specific back up, the score wasn't given.

This also doesn't make sense because regardless of the GBRS that you give, the next grade level will have to deal with the student/parent AND even if a center is an option, you have no idea if the parents would elect on the center.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At our school, some parents start angling for a good GBRS at the second grade first semester conference (asking for a "sense" of what the GBRS may be. And whether the teacher has considered X and Y, and if one categorAnd I do believe that some of these parents are nutty enough to try to "appeal" a low GBRS with the administration and to argue with the teacher for a revision. The rumor in our school is that scores for kids parent referring for AAP placement or in pool do not go below a 14, and over 6 years or so I have had maybe a dozen parents tell me their child was a 15 or 16. Not all of these kids ended up getting in (but a lot do our school has a very high AAP admittance rate). Maybe 2 or 3 of 12 missed it.

Maybe the parents are inflating the scores. But I suspect the teachers are giving kids the benefit of the doubt (to put it nicely). I also suspect that the screening committee just knows to take an extra hard look at the GBRS commentary from our school, to make sure the commentary lines up with the numbers. And probably looks to see whether the GBRS makes sense in the context of the test scores, rather than rubber stamping admission at a certain GBRS. But that's the definition of holistic review anyway.

And i do think so parents are so competitive that it just does not "click" with them that a high number isn't enough. You need some substance to back it up.

Welcome to Western Fairfax County!

Since the GBRS isn't released until the file leaves the school, tell me you don't believe this ridiculousness. Also, stop believing rumors...